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AMBROSE LAMMEY 



THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN 

AMBROSE LAMMEY, 
Corporal Company C, H8th 111. Vol . Inf'y' 

The campaign for the possession of Chattanooga commenced 
with General Rosecrans' advance from Murfreesboro, June 24, 
1863. His army was composed of about 60,000 men of all arms' 
di.vided into four Arm}' Corps. The advance was made simultaneously 
by four different roads. The extreme left under Crittenden made a wide 
detour to the southeast in the direction of McMinnville, the centre un- 
der Thomas passed through Hoover's Gap on the road to Manchester, 
while the right under McCook was headed for Shelby vllle, save thirtv 
miles west of south, where 18,000 rebels were encamped under General 
Poik. General Hardee was at Wartrace, a few miles east, on a branch 
of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad; Breckenridge had 10,00q 
more in East Tennessee which, with . scattering commands of cavalry 
and infantry elsewhere, made up an army of 46,000 men. 

It was General Rosecrans'-evident intention to flaMk the positions 
held by the enemy at Wartrace ana Shelbyville and force Bragg to fight 
elsewhere than behind the entrenchments which he had preoared. In 
this he was unsuccessful for while the passes through the mountains as 
at Hoover'tii, Liberty and Guy's Gaps were fortified and defended for a 
time against the.advancing columns of Thomas and McCook. they were 
soon forced to evacuate and retire or be captured. Three days after the 
advance commenced the rebels were compelled to leave their fortified 
camps and retreat to the south or accept the gauge of battle on ground 
v, hich was not of their own choosing. Bragg took the- former alternative 
and continued to retire until he had crossed the Duck, the Elk: and the 
Tennessee rivers. Tullahoma was evacuated June 30th and occupied the 
same day by-our, army. The crossing of the Elk river on July 3rd. was 
made under difficulties, the rebels climbing into the trees and pickin"- 
ott" our men as they advanced. Thej' wef e finally driven off however, and 
.the crossing was effected by the men stripping and tying their clothes 
and accoutrements around their necks to prevent their being carried off' 
by the swiftness oE the current. As an additional safeguard a rope was 
thrown across the river and the men held on to this while crossing Not- 
withstanding this i^recaution there was some loss. 



It being clear to Kosecrans that Bragg would not fight north of t le 
Tennessee, camping grounds were made at different points up and down 
the Tennessee a.- at Bridgeport and Stevenson, Alabama, Winchester. 
Deckard, Cowan, i Vlam and Trac}^ City, Tennessee. The railroad was 
immediately repaired and supplies forwarded to Stevenson, Ala., prepar- 
atory to another advance. It was not until August 11th. that things 
were in readiness and the order was given to cross the Tennessee. 
This was done at four different points, and soon the objective point, 
Chattanooga, was seriously threatened and its evacuation compelled on 
September 9th. Pontoon bridges hastily erevted by the Pioneer Corps , 
were the means used to effect a crossing which was accomplished with' 
out loss, except at Bridgeport, where the bridge gave way and some ar- 
tillerymen and horses were precipitated into the water and drowned. 
It was eleven days before it was repaired, and the guns were recovered 
later. Then came the march up the steep mountain sides. Only those 
who have passed through a campaign over a country of this character 
can appreciate the difficulties to be met and overcome — long trains of 
ammunition and supplies must be kept close to and safely guarded bv 
the advancing columns in the enemy's country to prevent their loss by a 
sudden dash. Our march over sand and Raccoon mountains was devoid 
of exciting incident, the warm, dry weather and the dust making it very 
trying to man and beast. The same tactics seem to have been applied 
here by the commanding General that obtained in the summer campaign 
in Tennessee. The right under McCook, crossed the mountains in a 
southeasterly direction towards Summerville and threatening Rome, Ga , 
which is fully sixty miles south of Chattanooga and some thirty miles 
south of where Bragg was encamped with his whole army. 

When McCook's advance under General Sheridan reached Alpine 
V'alley, a hurried order was received to fail back and concentrate with 
the rest of the army in the vicinity of Lee and Gordon's mill on the west 
banK of C'hickamauga creek. How vividly we recall the suddenness of 
the movement: there was no rest day or night until that point had been 
reached. The incidents of that eventful march are still fresh in the 
minds of all. Tired and sleepy we arrived on the field that was destined 
to become the mausoleum of so man}- of our comrades, and historic for 
the tertifllc fighting the desperate valor on both sides, and the appallin.r 
loss of life. The rebel loss in three day's fighting is said to have bee" 
something over 18,0(H> men. while ours was over l(i,00(.>. making a total 
of about 3r),(M)0 men in killed, wounded and missing. The supreme test 
of American valor came in the repeated charges made against Thoma^' 
lines on the left to break through and secure possession of the Rossville 
and LaFayette road, and thus cut off the retreat of our army. Had 
they succeeded in this the historian would have had to record a more-fa- 
tal disaster to the Union arms than falling back on Chattanooga the 
next day by way of I\ossville. '>»*» 

D. i. Merkiey* 
15 Ap 1907 



At Jthiftdistance to o.ie who has studiiid the movtmLnts, and in the 
light uf history, it hardly seems <>0(id military strate<>y to make an ad- 
vance upon an unknown enemy concentrated near his own base of sup. 
plies with a force scarcely equal in numbers. Negley's Division was 
thrown far in advance unsupported by the rest of Thomas' Corps, to 
Stevens' Gap. A combined rebel force of 11,000 men under Generals 
Hindman and Hill was ordered to open on him on the 9th., his own force 
being less than one-half that number, and Bragg's whole army in sup- 
porting distance, Up to eight o'clock, p. m of the 9th. Negley seems to 
have been unaware of his danger and the proximity of the rebel forces, 
and it was more than twent\-four hours later when he fully realized his 
danger and took the necessar}' steps to protect his position and retire 
without being cut off and his force destroyed. Under impression that 
Bragg was still retreating the commanding General had ordered the 
advance until he had reached Davis" CrohS Elocids one mile west of Dug 
(Jap. It was here that his true situation became known through citi- 
zens and scouts — that Pigeon Mountain only separated him from a rebel 
force double his own. He at once fell baCi on "Bailey's Cross Roads" 
and called for reinforcements and was quickly supported by two brigades 
of Baird's Division so that later when the rebel attack was made by the 
largely superior force, Negley was enabled to withdraw without losing 
any either of his artillery or supplies. Owing to disobedience of orders 
oil the part of the rebel commanders Hiddman, Hill and Polk the attack 
was not made until the 11th though ordered on the 9th. Gen. Critten- 
den's Division also occupied an exposed position and Gen. Polk was or- 
dered to strike and crush him in detail. 

Gen. Bragg seems to have deceived and misled Gen. Rosecrans as 
to his real intentions through rebel deserters and citizens who uniformly 
reported him in full retreat on Rome, and it was not until the 12th. inst. 
that he learned his danger and begap concentrating his army in the vicin- 
ity of Lee and Gordon's mills to resist an attack by the rebel command- 
er, and at all hazards to hold the LaFayette road. None too soon was 
the order given, for on the afternoon of the 18thi the premonitory signs 
of the coming storm were given, when at several different points the reb- 
els attempted the crossing of Chickamauga Creek and were resisted by 
the cavalry under Wilder, Stanley and Minty, and on the 19th the storm 
came in all its fury — the deep-mouthed Napoleon was interspersed with 
the sharper sound of the Rodman and other rifled guns, while the roar 
of musketry was enough to appal the stoutest heart. Louder and deep- 
er than the roar of Niagara the dogs of war howled, while the serried 
columns contended for the mastery, sometimes one and then the other 
giving way before'the territic fury of desperate charges of the opposing 
force. The rebel commander had placed his all on the success of the 
battle and the possession of the goal, and hence to him failure meant 



much: while to the Union commander it meant the loss of all: his name* 
his fame and his arm}'. The great error of the Union commander was 
in the transfer of Wood's Division to the left, causinor an openinof in the 
line of battle and exposing Sheridan's Division to destruction or capture, 
when Longstreet's legions opened on him with front and enfilading tires 
Repeated charges were made against the advancing columns of the en- 
emy, and here in th^ forefront of battle our gallant Lytle fell with- his 
face to the foe. and his riderless horse dashed with the fury of a whirl- 
wind back through the Union lines to the rear Without support, and 
greatly outnumbered. Sheridan's Division, -after a gallant fight, was 
compelled to fall back, which they did after suffering heavy losses in 
killed, wounded and missing. Then the rebels were hurled with increas- 
ed fury against Thomas who sent them back wounded and bleeding so 
that he well deserved the soubriquet of the "Rock of Chickamauga "" 
A desperate attempt was made near nightfall to turn his left which 
would probably have been successful had it not been for the arrival of 
Granger's reserve corps at just the right moment, which, forminc at 
right angles with the line of battle, received them with a galling fire 
and drove them baoic disheartened from the field. Rallied by Longstreet 
the}' charged again only with tie same result. Seen darkness spread 
her mantle over the blood}- scene and as the curtain fell the battle of 
Chickamauga was over and Thomas withdrew the weary remnant of his 
army to Rq^sville for rest but the enemy was too severely punished to 
follow, and by night of the 21st. the whole army was resting on Chatta- 
nooga: and Bragg followed soon after, laying siege to the city to watch 
for a favorable opportunity to attack, when, as he thought, Rosecrans 
would attempt the crossing of the Tennessee to effect his escape. In 
this, of course, as subsequent events proved, he was in error. 

It is a well understood fai^t that a description of a campaign for 
the possession of Ch..t^an loga would be incomi)lete without the story of 
the battle above the clouds by Hooker, and the gallant charge u]) Mis 
sionary Ridge, in which Sheridan's Division, including our own regiment, 
covered themselves with glory and planted the regimental fiag high up 
on the heights never to be lowered: but I will leave this glorious chapter 
in our Nation's history to more- gifted hands to weave the web and woof 
of that description. 

In passing, comrades. I desire to say that if in our judgment errors 
-were made let us, before ])assing judgment, remember that the princi- 
pal actors in that great drama hav,.- passed away, and are beyond reach 
of our criticisms. let ii? r; thtr slied a tear o'ei the bit r of our depart- 
ed commander, who. I have every reason to believe, did the very best he 
could with the knowledge he had. 

And peace, with all its benign influences, is now the heritage of 
our children bought by the blood of their fathers on those southern bat- 
tlefields. Dt ai ly bought it was and higlily cherished it should be. There 
is consolation in the thought that the soldier who then sought to des- 
troy our fair land is now equally desirous for its preservation. And to- 
day we have a united country, with no North, no South, no East, no- 
West; but 

A Union of hearts, a Union of hands, 

A Union of interests, a Union of lands, 
And the Flag of our Union forever. \ 



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